Challenges for Sustainability of SSE The Interaction between Popular Economy, Social Movements and Public Policies–Case Study of the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers Angelique J. W. M. van Zeeland Fundação Luterana de Diaconia Draft paper prepared for the UNRISD Conference Potential and Limits of Social and Solidarity Economy 6–8 May 2013, Geneva, Switzerland
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Challenges for Sustainability of SSE The Interaction between Popular Economy, Social Movements and Public Policies–Case Study of the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers
Angelique J. W. M. van Zeeland Fundação Luterana de Diaconia Draft paper prepared for the UNRISD Conference
Potential and Limits of Social and Solidarity Economy
Case Study of the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers
Angelique J. W. M. van Zeeland Fundação Luterana de Diaconia
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Abstract
This paper analyses the challenges for sustainability of Social and Solidarity Economy
(SSE), focusing on the interaction between popular economy, social movements and
public policies. A case study regarding the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers focuses on
collective action and public policies in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India and South Africa.
It explores the complex institutional arrangements involving community groups who
share solid waste management with local governments. The paper argues that the
sustainability of SSE organizations is not merely a technical or economic question, but,
it is essentially a political one, depending on public policies compromised with a
process of social transformation at all levels, federal, state and municipal. The paper
concludes that significant shifts in public policies require collective action. Public
policies should promote the expansion of SSE through a change in quality in the
informal popular initiatives, as well as strengthen SSE, through effectively build up
capacity to meet the demands aroused from the newly shaped public policies.
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Introduction: Challenges for Sustainability of SSE
The increasing urbanisation in the developing countries in the 1960s and 1970s resulted
in a growing informal urban sector. In the 1980s many popular economic organizations
arose, especially in the big Latin American cities. With the high levels of
unemployment in the 1990s the informal economy was growing but the Social and
Solidarity Economy (SSE) also gained a mayor emphasis. In the 2000s some countries,
for example Brazil showed a decrease in the level of unemployment but the SSE
continues to expand. This shows that SSE is starting to establish itself as a relevant
social and economic sector and not just a residual or transitory phase during recessions
of the formal economic system. SSE is a response to poverty and inequality, and has the
potential to contribute to an alternative, sustainable and transformational development
model. However the expansion of the SSE is full of contradictions and of challenges,
which have to be faced.
This paper focuses on three aspects regarding the challenges for sustainability of SSE,
respectively the interaction between SSE and popular economy; the role of collective
action and coalitions between community groups, social movements and NGOs and
there influence on public policies through participatory processes in deliberative spaces,
such as forums and councils; and the importance of effective implementation of public
policies and programs compromised with a process of social transformation at all levels,
international, federal, state and municipal for the strengthening of SSE.
Approaching Popular Economy and Solidarity Economy
Since the early 1970s the concept of informal economy appears in the international
development debates. The concept comprehends the experiences of the large share of
economic units and workers that develop economic activities outside the formal
regulatory environment. According to Martha Chen informal employment comprises
one-half to three-quarters of non-agricultural employment in developing countries,
respectively 48 per cent in North Africa; 51 per cent in Latin America; 65 per cent in
Asia; and 72 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa. One of the main challenges is the question
of whether and how to formalize the informal economy. Taking into account different
meanings depending on the actors, for policymakers the main interest is the licence and
taxes, the self-employed expect to receive the benefits, such as legal ownership and
incentives, for the informal worker it means, basically social protection (Chen 2012). It
is important to consider that the informal economy is a major provider of employment,
as well as of goods and services for lower-income groups.
Milton Santos refers to two circuits, respectively the upper circuit and the lower circuit.
Each circuit is defined through the set of activities developed in a certain context and by
the sector of the population who participates through activity and consumption. The
main difference between the activities developed in the two circuits is based on the
differences in technology and organisation. The upper circuit uses capital intensive
technology, whereas the lower circuit uses labour intensive technology which is often
created or adapted to the local context. The economic rationality of the lower circuit and
its mechanisms are based on consumption, instead of production, they address the
current needs of the population, in terms of consumption and need for employment. It
absorbs, continuously, the surplus-labour. Whereas profit is the motor of the
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commercial activity, in the lower levels of the lower circuit the greatest concern is,
above all, survival. Referring to the population, it means basically that the rich and
middle classes participate in the upper circuit and the people living in poverty in the
lower circuit. However the two circuits have the same origin, the same set of causes and
are related to each other. Although there exist an interdependent relation, it does not
mean that it is an equal relationship, the lower circuit is far more dependent on the
upper circuit, than the other way around (Santos 2004).
Most of the organisations, enterprises, economic units and self-employed who compose
the popular economy operate in the informal economy. However the concept of popular
economy is not the same of the concept of informal economy. Besides the fact that the
popular economy also comprises formalised organisations, another important aspect is
that the main actors belong to the lower income classes. The concept of popular
economy covers a wide range of activities, such as economic activities developed
individually or at a family level, but it also includes informal groups, associations and
cooperatives. The popular economy has its own economic rationality, its main purpose
is not profit, but is to provide the subsistence and reproduction of life of the members
and their families (Kraychete and Santana 2012). The concept of popular economy has
similarities with the concept of the lower circuit of the economy; both include a wide
range of activities, a huge number of persons from the lower income classes as well as a
specific economic rationality which, above all, aims to provide subsistence.
From the 1990s onward there has been a growing interest and growing literature
regarding the social and solidarity economy. SSE emerges as a response to overcome
poverty and inequality. According to Luis Razeto solidarity economy is a theoretical
formulation which captures the reality of a significant set of economic experiences – in
the field of production, trade, services and financing - that share constitutive elements
such as solidarity, co-operation and democratic management, defining a specific
rationality, different from other economic rationalities (Razeto 1993). These initiatives
are designed to address a range of specific needs, such as food security, housing,
education, health and income generation. They recover the central role of labour,
instead of capital, and focus on improvement of the living conditions of the members
and their families (Razeto 1997). Paul Singer states that solidarity economy is a
continuous process of creation by the workers in their struggle against capitalism, to
change unjust and exploitative economic relations. Solidarity is the most important
aspect of this economic praxis, and expresses itself, amongst others, in collective
ownership of the means of production by the people who use them to produce;
democratic management and distribution of net revenue and leftovers between the
members (Singer 2000). José Luis Coraggio takes as a starting point that the social
economy has not yet become a reality, but must be seen as a “transitory phase of
economic practices of transformational actions”. The main purpose is to create a
socioeconomic system organised by the principle of “expanded reproduction of life”
generated form within the currently existing mixed economy (Coraggio 2007:37). The
community oriented aspect of SSE, is highlighted by Amin. The solidarity economy
initiatives mobilise local resources and capabilities and are based on popular
mobilisation to meet local and social needs as well as human development (Amin
2009). Social and Solidarity Economy aims to satisfy human needs and is based on
values such as democratic and participatory decision making and social cohesion. One
of the main distinctions of SSE is associated with collective organisation, cooperation
and solidarity.
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From a development and justice perspective, SSE has the potential of integrated
development, promoting besides local employment and economic development, also
social and environmental protection, cultural diversity and empowerment. In this
respect it approaches the concept of human development and the capability approach,
which makes important contributions to the concept of poverty, development and social
justice. According to Amartya Sen, “poverty must be seen as the deprivation of basic
capabilities rather than merely as lowness of incomes, which is the standard criterion of
identification of poverty” (Sen 2000: 87). The capability approach focuses on human
life and proposes a shift of focus form the concentration on the means of subsistence
towards the “actual opportunities of living”, opportunities to pursue our objectives,
meaning those things that we value (Sen 2011: 233). In this sense development is
fundamentally a process of empowerment. This view can be enlarged with the prospect
of collective action, through community groups, social movements, forums and councils
to achieve development. These spaces allow for deliberative processes. “Fostering the
expansion of such means of collective action is central to the expansion of freedom”
(Evans 2002: 56). The strengthening of SSE depends on the possibility to create
participatory processes in deliberative spaces as forums for dialogue between social
movements, civil society organisations and the government to effectively contribute to
public policies which enhance the autonomy, promotes rights and are compromised
with a process of social transformation.
The different concepts have several aspects which converge, the popular economy as
well as the social and solidarity economy contain a huge number of informal
enterprises. Estimates for the size of the popular economy are regularly based on the
data regarding the informal economy. Data from the system of information on solidarity
economy of Brazil show that at least one third of all solidarity economy enterprises are
informal1 (Brazil SENAES 2007). In the urban areas informality reaches two third of
the organisations (Brazil SENAES 2010). However a comparison of the scale of the
popular economy, based on data available on the informal economy, and data of the
scale of the solidarity economy, based on data available in the system of information on
solidarity economy in Brazil, show that the size of the solidarity economy corresponds
to less than 1% of the popular economy. So this puts a huge challenge for SSE, how to
expand SSE and what are the conditions and contexts to establish a significant change
in quality in the organisations of the informal and popular economy as to converge to
SSE.
A research developed in Chile among ten associations of informal micro-entrepreneurs
in poor districts of Santiago shows the potential for informal popular economy
initiatives to join forces and act collectively, thus establishing different forms of
cooperation and solidarity and approaching SSE. Most of the associations are based on
a geographical basis, others on the sector of activity. On average they have seventy-five
members, most of them constitute family enterprises, and act on the household level.
According to Anemaria Marín, directress of the Association of Micro-Entrepreneurs of
Puente Alto: “AMEPA not only represents the economical needs of the micro-
entrepreneurs but all their human needs. The micro-enterprise is an integrated part of
1 These data were gathered in the period of 2005-2007 and can be found in the system of information on
solidarity economy of the National Secretariat of Solidarity Economy (SENAES) of the Brazilian
Ministery of Labour, respectively Sistema de Informações em Economia Solidária (SIES) at
www.sies.mte.gov.br
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their daily lives. The rhythm of work and the rhythm of daily life are connected”
(Zeeland 1995). The associations promote different forms of cooperation, respectively
economic, social and political cooperation. Regarding economic cooperation the
majority of the associations develop activities such as commercialise collectively and
access to credit. A few associations also jointly purchase raw materials and inputs,
opening possibilities for vertical cooperation. The social cooperation aims to establish
some form of social protection for their members. Several associations have introduced
a solidarity fund to help associates in times of hardship, for instance, in case of illness
or an accident. Others have established agreements for medical attendance with medical
corporations or the local municipality. The political cooperation with municipalities aim
access to education, health and habitation, as well as legalisation, tax arrangements and
commercialisation, for instance opening up of markets, fairs and exhibitions and
obtaining priority in local and institutional markets. Most associations were founded
with support of a NGO, and get training, organisational consultancy and financial
assistance, through micro-credit. The networks established by the informal popular
economy initiatives and their interaction with the community and NGOs, results into
political power, which strengthens the negotiations with governmental actors, to claim
their economic, social and cultural rights and to influence public policies (Zeeland
2000). The experience shows that informal popular economic enterprises can develop
relations based on cooperation and solidarity and thus approach SSE. However one of
the constraints is that most of the associations are supported by NGOs, and therefore the
scope is limited to their action radius. Leading to the question how to scale up this
experience?
Examples from Brazil show that with public support it might be possible to approach a
significant part of the informal popular economy to SSE. The first example is from the
state of Bahia regarding a public program for social and productive inclusion and
capacity building for the popular economy. According to Gabriel Kraychete and André
Santana 60% of the economically active population of the Metropolitan Region of
Salvador can be considered to be part of the informal popular economy2, only 1% of the
popular economy organisations belong to the SSE3. This huge and more or less
permanent contingent expresses a matrix of inequality and poverty. In 2011 the
Government of the State of Bahia started the Programa Vida Melhor, Programme Better
Life, with the purpose to include socially and productively, through decent work, people
living in poverty and with a potential for productive work. The programme aims to
reach 120 thousand families in the urban areas and 280 thousand families in the rural
context. The main activity focuses on technical assistance for the popular economy
initiatives, comprehending the development of feasibility studies with an appropriate
methodology according to the characteristics and peculiar economic logic of these
enterprises. Thereafter the need for financing and microcredit can be identified, or
donation in the case of extreme vulnerability. Out of the information the entrepreneur
can decide whether or not to formalize and have access to social protection. It is also
possible to identify and stimulate collective actions, and hence approach the SSE.
Kraychete and Santana conclude that it is “insufficient to think of the sustainability of
each popular economy enterprise in an isolated way.” According to them the
2 Data based on the national household sample survey, Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios
(PNAD), executed by the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) in 2009, compiled and
prepared by Gabriel Kraychete and André Santana, 2012. 3 Data based on the system of information on solidarity economy (SIES) of the National Secretariat of
Solidarity Economy (Senaes) of the Brazilian Ministery of Labour in 2005.
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sustainability of the popular and solidarity economy initiatives “supposes a process of
development which promotes, together with this economy, other fundamental rights”
(Kraychete and Santana 2012: 61). The public programme has a scope far beyond that
of NGOs, and the possibility to reach a significant number of popular economy
initiatives. However the programme is in the initial phase, so will need time to prove
that it is possible to support the sustainability of the popular economy initiatives and to
offer decent work to the participants, meaning to promote opportunities to obtain decent
and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity4.
The second example is based on support of the federal government for programs to
include informal waste pickers in solid waste management. This will be discussed
below, after reflections regarding the interaction between social movements and public
policies.
Interaction between Social Movements and Public Policies: Case Study
of the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers
As stated in the introduction and illustrated by the example above, the sustainability of
SSE is not merely a technical or economic question, but is essentially a political one,
depending on public policies compromised with a process of social transformation.
However to achieve significant shifts in public policies collective action is required,
through coalitions between community groups, social movements, networks of NGOs,
forums and councils. Below we will analyse the process of strengthening of national
and regional social movements of collectors of recyclable materials, resulting in the
foundation of the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers and their influence on public
policies.
To contextualize some data regarding the recycling sector and organisations of waste
pickers in Brazil will be presented. Recycling generates a value of almost US$ 2 billion
and avoids 10 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling of all the materials
would be worth 0.3% of GDP. Over 500 thousand people are employed in waste
management and recycling, mostly as individual waste pickers in informal jobs under
poor working conditions and with very low and unstable incomes. Approximately 60
thousand collectors of recyclable materials are organised in associations and
cooperatives; their income is more than two times higher than that of individual waste
pickers (UNEP 2011). There are at least 1,100 organisations of collectors of recyclable
materials in Brazil, however about 60% are operating at the lowest levels of efficiency.
The average income of the collectors is less than a minimum wage, reaching between
R$ 420.00 and R$ 520.00, approximately US$ 210.00 and US$ 260.005. The
educational levels of the collectors are between the 5th
and 8th
grade of primary
education (IPEA 2012). The data show that only slightly more than 10% of the waste
pickers participate in collective organisations, and form part of the SSE. Although this
represents a small part, it is a higher proportion in relation to other urban sectors. At the
same time 90% of the waste pickers belong to the informal popular economy, which
puts a tremendous challenge on the social movements and on public policies to include
them in solidarity economy organisations.
4 The definition of decent work by the ILO can be found on www.ilo.org.
5 On an exchange rate of US$ 1.00 = R$ 2.00, on 27th of March 2013.
8
The first collective organisations of waste pickers were created during the second half
of the 1980s and during the 1990s, with support of NGOs, especially in the big capitals
as São Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre. The first National Meeting of
Collectors of Recyclable Materials was promoted in 1999. Two years later in 2001 the
National Movement of Collectors of Recyclable Materials was founded, respectively
Movimento Nacional dos Catadores de Materiais Recicláveis (MNCR). More than 1600
collectors participated in the national congress of waste pickers. Besides the founding of
the MNCR, the congress resulted in the Carta de Brasília6, which presents a proposal
for the recognition and regulation of the profession of collector of recyclable material.
One year later in 2002 the profession was officially recognised by the federal
government. This was one of the first results of the collective action of the waste
pickers and demonstrated the possibility for effective influence on public policies.
The First Latin-American Congress of Collectors took place in Caxias do Sul in Brazil
in 2003. About 800 collectors from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay participated. The
Carta de Caxias7 proposes the exchange between the organisations of waste pickers
from Latin America. It also strengthens the claims towards the governments to
guarantee selective collection primarily in partnership with the organisations of the
collectors, as well as access to social programmes, as for instance literacy, and public
policies promoting training and capacity building. The Second Latin-American
Congress of Collectors took place in São Leopoldo, Brazil, in 2005, preceding the Fifth
World Social Forum, with 1050 participants from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia
and Uruguay. The final declaration of São Leopoldo8 strengthens the statements of 2003
and includes new demands, public policies of housing for the waste collectors and a law
regarding the destination of recyclable materials of public institutions for associations
and cooperatives of collectors of recyclable materials. In 2006 a decree was signed in
Brazil attending this demand (Decree n◦ 5940/2006). In 2007 a Brazilian law was
approved that exempt organisations of collectors of recyclable materials from the
tendering-process to carry out the selective collection activities (Law n◦ 11.445/2007).
The First World Conference and Third Latin-American Conference of Waste Pickers
were held in Bogota, Colombia, in 2008, with 700 participants from 34 countries from
Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Besides 15 Latin American Countries, there
were participants, amongst others, from Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal,
Philippines, Turkey and South Africa. The result was the Global Declaration of the First
World Conference of Waste Pickers, the Declaration of the Third Regional Conference
of Latin American Waste Pickers and the founding of the Global Alliance of Waste
Pickers. The declaration states the commitment to work for the social and economic
inclusion of the waste-pickers, strengthen their organisations to move forward in the
value chain and reject incineration (WIEGO 2008). After the conference several
national movements of waste pickers have been founded, for instance in Kenya and
South Africa.
The experiences in different countries and continents show the importance of the
participatory processes and the creation of forums for dialogue between the social
6 The Letter of Brasília is available in Portuguese on the website of the MNCR: www.mncr.org.br
7 The Letter of Caxias is available at: www.mncr.org.br
8 The Declaration of São Leopoldo is available at: www.mncr.org.br
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movements, civil society organisations and the government to contribute to public
policies to strengthen and expand SSE.
In the last decade there have been “innovative institutional changes”, such as laws
recognising the originality of the solidarity economy initiatives (Laville 2009: 240).
Regarding the collectors of recyclable material, this has resulted in new laws and
decrees, as well as innovative institutional arrangements involving community groups
with the inclusion of informal waste pickers into solid waste management systems.
Following some of these will be discussed.
In 1998 the National Waste and Citizenship Forum was created in Brazil with the
support from UNICEF, state and municipal forums were also created. The forums are
composed of civil society organisations, such as NGOs and organisations of waste
collectors, governmental entities and private enterprises. The main aim is to eradicate
child labour at open dumps, eradication of open dumps and promotion of integral solid
waste management systems with the inclusion of the waste pickers (Dias 2007). In 2003
the Inter-ministerial Committee of Social and Economic Inclusion of Collectors of
Recyclable Material (Ciisc)9 was created. It is the main forum for dialogue between the
MNCR and the Brazilian government, in total 22 federal state entities participate,
mainly ministries, public financial institutions and public enterprises. It aims to create
public policies and support programs to improve the socio-economic conditions of the
recyclers and to enhance their autonomy. The above mentioned decree of 2006 and the
law of 2007 can be mentioned as the main outcomes. Two other important outcomes are
the Pro-Collector Programme, among federal entities aiming at the social and economic
inclusion of collectors (Decree n◦ 7405/2010) and the National Solid Waste Policy
(PNRS)10
(Law n◦ 12305/2010). The PNRS was established after a participatory process
of social dialogue involving the government, recycling companies, civil society
organisations, universities and the MNCR. In this policy the associations and
cooperatives of collectors are referred to as the priority stakeholders in the recycling
process, especially in the selective collection of urban solid waste. In recent years
cooperatives of collectors have established contracts and agreements with the
municipalities to perform part of the solid waste management. The Pro-Collector